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Capitalism does raise the quality of life, no question. But the time for the free market, Adam Smith routine is over. The evolutions of our societies and systems since the Industrial Revolution have brought new standards. Laissez-faire systems, particularly now, are just abusive to a majority of the populations.
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Brought new standards is an understatement. Tripled life expectancy and made it possible for people to independently provide for their families would be nice additions as well. The abusiveness you mention is the result of people being told they should be getting services they can't pay for as well as being deceived into thinking that they have a right to many things that are still very expensive. People feel entitled to things without earning what it really takes to provide them. The one area I think we could stand to make some improvement on is health care, not universal health care, affordable health care. The reason everything is so expensive is that ~27% of people who use our ER's don't pay a dime for it, and that cost is passed to everyone else. In addition, physicians must carry gross amounts of private insurance which drives wages up.